'Clerks II' Moves Up To July

Fans have already waited more than a decade for the sequel to "Clerks," but that interval is about to be reduced by a month.

Previously set to battle "Snakes on a Plane" for Aug. 18 box office gold, the Weinstein Co. has moved "Clerks II" up to July 21.

"Why the move? Getting into Cannes changed everything," writer-director-star Kevin Smith says in a statement posted to the NewsAskew website. "Since the film will have its world debut on May 26th, the Weinstein folks thought it'd make more sense to get the film out there sooner, rather than later. They found a weekend in which there wasn't any flick that directly compete with the movie for an audience, and staked their claim."

Analyzing the competition, he adds, "Now, we're opening against some pretty big flicks ('Lady in the Water,' 'Monster House'), but nothing that's appealing directly to our core audience. So while we'll never open at number one (those two flicks alone are pretty mass-appeal movies), we stand to make a decent chunk of change and wind up somewhere in the top ten."

Smith has already repeatedly said that with a budget of only $5 million, waltzing into profit should be a breeze for the sequel, which focuses on the continuing adventures of Randal (Jeff Anderson) and Dante (Brian O'Halloran), the titular clerks from the original.